Friday, October 25, 2013

No Holds Barred: Donovan Craig Introduces GrappleGnostic

On this edition of No Holds Barred, host Eddie Goldman spoke with veteran combat sports journalist Donovan Craig, to introduce the new grappling and wrestling web site, GrappleGnostic.

"The way I kind of conceive it is sort of a conversation about excellence in the grappling martial arts," he said in our interview, recorded through Skype Thursday.

"It's not a news site. It's a very focused title and it's exploring how the grappling martial arts are expressions of people's quest for personal excellence and competitive excellence."

Sponsored by Defense Soap, the site already has interviews with Terry Brands, Marcos Torregrosa, Steve Garland, and Eddie Bravo, articles about the evolution of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and wrestling, and a short history and commentary on the revival of catch wrestling, among others.

The No Holds Barred theme song is called "The Heist", which is also available on iTunes by composer Ian Snow.

No Holds Barred is free to listen to and is sponsored by:

ONE Fighting Championship. ONE FC is Asia's largest and most prestigious mixed martial arts event. ONE FC features the best Asian fighters and has initiated the ONE Asia Partnership Network, which includes most of the major MMA promotions and MMA gyms in Asia. For more information, go to their web site, at ONEFC.com.

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American Top Team. Whether you're a beginner or a champion, train with the champions in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, boxing, wrestling, grappling, and mixed martial arts at American Top Team. Check out their web site athttp://americantopteam.com/.

Wednesday, October 23, 2013

No Holds Barred: Kristen Brown of Live To Fight on October 27 Grappling Cancer Seminar

On this edition of No Holds Barred, host Eddie Goldman spoke with Kristen Brown of Live To Fight.

Live to Fight is a newly-formed charity established to raise support for fighters and their loved ones who have been affected by cancer and other life-threatening illnesses.

Their first event will be held this Sunday, October 27, and will be a no-gi Brazilian jiu-jitsu seminar called "Grappling Cancer". It will be hosted by LiveToFight.org board member, UFC middleweight champion, and ADCC veteran Chris Weidman, along with guest instructors MMA fighter Jim Miller and BJJ and MMA legend Renzo Gracie.

The location is the Renzo Gracie Academy at 224 West 30th Street (between 7th and 8th Ave.), New York, NY 10001. The seminar will start at 1 PM.

We spoke with a very busy Kristen Brown by phone Wednesday.

"I'm really, really excited. This is our first event. I'm very excited to have the people that we have teaching," she said.

"Live to Fight is a charity that I recently started. It's a non-profit organization that helps people in the martial arts, combat sports, (and) mixed martial arts community who are fighting cancer and other life-threatening illnesses."

She explained, "It's for fighters, for people who train, and their loved ones," especially to help them pay their medical bills. Its focus is "Mostly cancer, since I'm a cancer survivor, but any life-threatening illness."

Besides discussing the details of this event, we also talked about her own battles against cancer, dealing with the "crazy, crazy medical bills," plans to build awareness of the need for people in the martial arts and combat sports to assist those who are fighting these diseases, and much more.

You can play or download No Holds Barredhere and here. If one link doesn't work, please try another.

No Holds Barred is also available on mobile phones and iPads through Stitcher.

The No Holds Barred theme song is called "The Heist", which is also available on iTunes by composer Ian Snow.

No Holds Barred is free to listen to and is sponsored by:

ONE Fighting Championship. ONE FC is Asia's largest and most prestigious mixed martial arts event. ONE FC features the best Asian fighters and has initiated the ONE Asia Partnership Network, which includes most of the major MMA promotions and MMA gyms in Asia. For more information, go to their web site, at ONEFC.com.

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American Top Team. Whether you're a beginner or a champion, train with the champions in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, boxing, wrestling, grappling, and mixed martial arts at American Top Team. Check out their web site athttp://americantopteam.com/.

Monday, October 21, 2013

No Holds Barred: Sensei Sonny Williams on Battle of Bushido 4

On this edition of No Holds Barred, host Eddie Goldman spoke with Sensei Sonny Williams about the Battle of Bushido 4.

The Battle of Bushido 4 is a family-friendly martial arts event featuring demonstrations and fights in many styles of the martial arts, including kumite, continuous fighting, and weapons competition. It will take place this Sunday, October 27, from 9 AM to 6 PM, at the world-famous Hotel Pennsylvania in New York at 7th Avenue and 33rd Street, right across the street from Penn Station and Madison Square Garden. The morning and early afternoon will feature the kids' events, while the adult events start in the afternoon.

We spoke with Sensei Sonny Williams about the Battle of Bushido 4 by phone Saturday.

"One of the main things that I'm featuring on this year is having a children's Grand," he said. "A lot of promoters are now implementing that for their tournaments, to try to give the youth a little more edge, something more to inspire them to stay with the martial arts. So I'm offering the same this year."

He added, "Also, I'm putting emphasis on the kung fu and wushu divisions."

We also discussed fundraising efforts for Grandmaster Kevin Thompson, who is suffering from amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), also known as Lou Gehrig's Disease.

In addition, this edition of No Holds Barred opens with a commentary on the growth of the World Combat Games, currently taking place in St. Petersburg, Russia, through October 26.

You can play or download No Holds Barredhere and here. If one link doesn't work, please try another.

No Holds Barred is also available on mobile phones and iPads through Stitcher.

The No Holds Barred theme song is called "The Heist", which is also available on iTunes by composer Ian Snow.

No Holds Barred is free to listen to and is sponsored by:

ONE Fighting Championship. ONE FC is Asia's largest and most prestigious mixed martial arts event. ONE FC features the best Asian fighters and has initiated the ONE Asia Partnership Network, which includes most of the major MMA promotions and MMA gyms in Asia. For more information, go to their web site, at ONEFC.com.

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American Top Team. Whether you're a beginner or a champion, train with the champions in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, boxing, wrestling, grappling, and mixed martial arts at American Top Team. Check out their web site athttp://americantopteam.com/.

Sunday, October 20, 2013

No Holds Barred: Bernard Hopkins on Black Fighters, and Why It's Good to Duck

(Alien Photo Credit: Brendan Montenegro/Roundbyround.com)

On this edition of No Holds Barred, host Eddie Goldman previews the October 26 fight between the IBF light heavyweight champion and boxing legend, Bernard Hopkins, and challenger Karo Murat.

The 48-year-old Hopkins (53-6-2, 32 KOs), from Philadelphia, will be facing the 30-year-old Murat (25-1-1, 15 KOs), born in Iraq and fighting out of Germany, at Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, New Jersey. This fight will headline a card which will be shown live in the U.S. on Showtime.

Both Hopkins and Murat were on a media conference call Thursday, and we have excerpts from that.

Despite his age advantage, Murat is a huge underdog. He has never fought for a major world title or in the U.S., and has never faced any opponent on the level of Hopkins. Still, he said on this conference call that Hopkins has been reduced to throwing one punch at a time and then clinching, and that he is confident he can win.

Hopkins - who has shed his long-standing nickname of "The Executioner" and is now calling himself "The Alien" because he is doing things a human of his age should not be able to do - not only dismissed such claims, but emphasized how he combines offense and defense. Such boxing skills, he said, are no longer seen as important or even marketable, especially by many TV executives. Boxing has changed today to where it "has sort of gotten to a barbaric" place. All-time greats like Sugar Ray Robinson and Sugar Ray Leonard, and in particular many Black fighters, he said, "would be boring today" and accused of not being able to sell tickets and pay-per-view buys. The TV executives believe, "if they duck, don't buy it." He attributed his longevity in boxing to his combination of offense and defense, proving "why it's good to duck."

He added, "I got two rules: I hit you, and I got to make you not hit me. What's wrong with that?"

But, he said, "The customers will drink anything you give them, if it's promoted right."

We play from this conference call our questions for Karo Murat, and the commentary by Bernard Hopkins on "why it's good to duck."

You can play or download No Holds Barredhere and here. If one link doesn't work, please try another.

No Holds Barred is also available on mobile phones and iPads through Stitcher.

The No Holds Barred theme song is called "The Heist", which is also available on iTunes by composer Ian Snow.

No Holds Barred is free to listen to and is sponsored by:

ONE Fighting Championship. ONE FC is Asia's largest and most prestigious mixed martial arts event. ONE FC features the best Asian fighters and has initiated the ONE Asia Partnership Network, which includes most of the major MMA promotions and MMA gyms in Asia. For more information, go to their web site, at ONEFC.com.

Beezid.com - Penny Auctions. Your #1 source for exciting auction shopping and outstanding deals on just about anything! Top rated, most trusted auction site online. Where do you shop? Beezid.com - Penny Auctions.

American Top Team. Whether you're a beginner or a champion, train with the champions in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, boxing, wrestling, grappling, and mixed martial arts at American Top Team. Check out their web site athttp://americantopteam.com/.